


He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Nurseydex Collection

by rhysiana



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Awkward Attempts at Adult Communication, Coffee, Fluff, M/M, Nonchalant Coming Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7919554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysiana/pseuds/rhysiana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I realized that several of my Tumblr Nurseydex ficlets actually form a timeline if you choose to read them as all happening in the same universe, so I figured I'd string them together here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Satan Is My Motor (It's a Metaphor)

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I'm marking this as complete now, since there was never any particular narrative arc intended. If future things I write seem to fit, they'll be added.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My only explanation for this is I had a great need for something in which Dex is actually totally fine with his sexuality, he just hasn’t made a big deal about it since he got to Samwell and everyone’s been assuming he was straight. I’ll probably use this idea again for something more substantial, but this song came on in the car today and I thought up this whole conversation around it, so here you go.

“Dex… are you listening to Cake?” Nursey asked.

Up until a few minutes ago, Dex had been alone in the room and therefore hadn’t been bothering with headphones. “Yeah, why?” he said, not looking up from his homework.

“It doesn’t really seem like your kind of thing.”

“Huh? Oh.” He glanced at the playlist. “This is a mix my sister made me. It’s an inside joke.”

“Okay, I have to ask. Why is ‘[Satan Is My Motor](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D-HLF9a1UF6Y&t=OTE4ZjIzNzRkZGQ2N2UxNGIzNDE2YmExNDAzNDllMGZlZGEzYjk3YixvNGc3b2RWdA%3D%3D)’ a joke? Is it just because you’re angry all the time?”

“No. Have you ever even listened to the song? It’s not angry at all.”

“Unlike everything else you listen to.”

Dex glared at him. (A mild glare, by his standards.) “Do you want to know or not?”

Nursey mimed zipping his lips shut. Dex rolled his eyes.

“Like I said, it’s an inside joke. I was rebuilding a car for her when our priest went on a big anti-gay kick, and she heard this song and it cracked us up that he would accuse us of running on Satan’s power. We laughed about it all summer. Man, that guy was a dick. No one was sad to see him go.”

“I… what?”

“Aren’t you an English major? Tell me I don’t have to explain a word-play joke about sexuality to you. I mean, you’ve studied Shakespeare. I know you have.”

“But… you’re straight.”

Dex snorted and turned back to his homework. “I’m sure my high school boyfriend would be shocked to hear that. Aren’t you supposed to be writing an essay?”

Nursey, for perhaps the first time in the history of their acquaintance, was speechless. _Well, this changed some things._

Dex didn’t appear to notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Dex gay? Bi? Gray-ace? I don't actually know; even I just think of my version of him as "not-straight" and I am very attached to this. Headcanon him as you see fit.


	2. "I'd fight for you." "Please don't."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still working on getting to know each other. What do you know, communication seems to work!

Nursey’s hand caught his wrist before he could take a swing. He turned in outrage at the murmured, “Chill, Dex,” from behind him.

“ _Chill_?! CHILL? You heard what he said!” Dex raged, waving his hand wildly in the direction of the moron in question, who had finally gotten the message that it would be in his best interests to fuck off.

Nursey tugged him to a bench at the edge of the quad that afforded some privacy, being half-overhung by a tree.

“I know what he said. He said it about me, after all.”

Dex ran his hands through his hair and tugged in frustration. “Argh! I thought I would be done having to fight people like that after high school.”

“Just… let it go.”

“I don’t want to let it go!” He threw himself down on the bench. “How can you be so calm about this? I know you care about shit. I know you do! Why are you like this? Be mad, dammit!”

Nursey sat down and rubbed his hands over his face. When he looked up, Dex watched in shock as he saw Nursey’s mask actually fall away for the first time he could ever remember.

“It isn’t that easy, Will,” he said wearily. “I had people like that around me in high school, too. Did you ever think of that?”

“Well, yeah–”

“But unlike you, I couldn’t hit them and then go home to my own room in my own house, completely away from them. I lived there. With them. 24/7. It’s not that I don’t care. I just learned not to _appear_ to care, because that was the only way.”

“No! It’s not! They’re wrong! Get mad, fight, DO SOMETHING.”

Nursey gave him a flat stare. “I want you to think, very carefully, about why that’s a much easier thing for you to consider than for me.”

Dex opened his mouth, closed it again, and flushed even darker.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate your sense of justice, but I don’t have the same luxury you do in that regard. The price I pay will _always_ be higher than yours.”

Dex clenched his fists. “So you just let it go?”

“I wish. But if I let myself get _actually_ angry about this shit once, I may never stop. This is just how I deal. It’s how I _survive_.”

“I… can’t do that. I can’t. Do you need me to? I can try… but I don’t think I’ll do a very good job.”

“I just wanted you to understand where I’m coming from. You have to make your own decisions. Just… think about your reactions sometimes. Not everyone can afford to be you.”

“Yeah, I get that. Sorry.”

Nursey waved a hand. “Whatever, man, it’s chill.”

Dex punched him in the shoulder.

***

“What did you just say, you racist, homophobic, bigoted piece of trash?” Dex asked, low and angry, as he took a step forward. “You better shut your mouth and walk away, or I will shut it for you.”

The guy sneered at Nursey. “You gonna let your boyfriend defend you, princess?”

Nursey looked at him coolly, arms crossed. “Yeah, I’m good. Sounded like he had it covered.”

Dex took another step forward, fists clenching, now getting into the other guy’s personal space. He was going to have to make a decision about whether to fight or back down. He chose the latter, walking off with one last slur tossed over his shoulder.

Dex let out a breath. He turned to Nursey, who was examining his nails with studied calm. “I notice you didn’t contradict the ‘boyfriend’ label.”

Nursey looked up at him with a leer. “My knight in shining armor,” he purred as he took Dex’s arm with exaggerated vampishness.

Dex could hear the sarcasm, but he also felt a spreading warmth in his chest. “I wouldn’t mind, you know.”

Nursey straightened in surprise, no longer hanging on Dex’s arm, but not letting go either. “Really?”

“Really.”

Nursey grinned and gave him a quick, fierce kiss. Then he renewed his snuggling hold on Dex’s arm and resumed their walk to the Haus. Dex could tell the smile on his face was smug. He didn’t care.


	3. Sunrise on the Ocean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're dating now! Dex takes Nursey to Maine for some break or the other.  
> ***  
> Explanation: I agreed to allow people to come to my house at 8 freaking 30 in the morning, and when I complained to @storiesfromtheden, she said “I feel like ‘8 freaking 30’ is something Dex would also say as he slammed his fist or head on the table.” So then I developed a whole headcanon about how Dex has always been a person who got up early because he had to, but he actually hates it a lot and will sleep super late given any opportunity. And THEN I thought, “Oh no, what if Nursey is actually a morning person?” (Which I don’t really believe, but maybe he's one of those annoying people who are willing to get up super early for the sake of art/beauty/some other sufficient motivation that Dex does not share.) And then fluff happened.

All the way to Maine for break, Nursey had been practically bouncing in his seat. But, like, in a _chill_ way. But seriously, Dex had been so amused to watch Nursey taking everything about the drive in with such bright-eyed interest, because Dex had done this drive what felt like a million times now and it had long since lost its charm. Nursey was helping him see it again, though.

“Hey, Dex?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think we could go see the sunrise tomorrow?”

“You can get up and watch the sunrise anytime you want.”

“No, I mean, out over the ocean. I have this poem idea, and I really want to see the sunrise from the water. Like, from a boat.”

Dex looked at him, mildly horrified. “Do you know how early that is?”

Nursey batted his eyes pleadingly. “Please? Just once! I can’t get the image out of my head, and I need to see it.”

Dex knew from experience Nursey wasn’t going to let this go. He sighed. “Fine.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

Damn Nursey’s ridiculously good looks, and damn Dex for being a weak sucker. He was going to hate himself tomorrow.

***

When the alarm went off at 4am the next morning, Dex did in fact hate himself. Also Nursey, alarm clock manufacturers, and the entire world. Nursey was already up and pulling on clothes, then gathering his writing supplies into his messenger bag and just generally looking entirely too chipper.

Dex staggered into jeans and whatever t-shirt was closest to the top of his bag. He pulled on an flannel over top of it and called it good enough. He then dragged himself to the kitchen by sheer force of will to get some coffee. Coffee would make it better. Coffee would prevent homicide. Yes.

Siobhan, Caitlyn, and Robbie were all sitting at the kitchen table, having been roped into working the fish market while Dex was being allowed an actual vacation for once. They all gaped at him, wide-eyed. The last time any of them had seen him up before 11am when not absolutely required, it had just been to stumble in for a glass of water before going back to bed. Siobhan gasped and then grinned. “Wi-ill has a boy-friend, Wi-ill has a boy-friend,” she sang softly.

Dex dug out the biggest thermos they owned and then dumped the ENTIRE contents of the coffee pot into it. “Hey!” Caitlyn exclaimed. Robbie grinned and shushed her. Dex gave them all the finger as he left, grabbing the keys to the boat on the way out.

Nursey was waiting by the truck, far, far too awake. Fortunately he knew better than to try to talk to Dex right now. He stayed blessedly silent as they drove to the marina, then followed Dex to the boat. Dex shook himself into a semblance of functional and said, “I’ll motor us out to a good view, but until I say, stay in the wheelhouse with me. It is far too early for me to have to deal with you falling overboard.”

Nursey smiled unrepentantly. “Whatever you say.”

Dex grunted and started up the boat. “Pour me some coffee, will you?”

The next fifteen minutes passed in comfortable silence, the rumble of the motor a familiar, soothing noise as Dex sipped the coffee Nursey passed him, the sky lightening almost imperceptibly around them. Dex cut the motor when they arrived at the cove he’d been aiming for. “We’re here. Should get you a good view. Be careful on the deck.”

Nursey immediately ducked out of the wheelhouse and made a circuit of the deck, looking for the best vantage point. Eventually he settled on the lid of the hatch and pulled out his journal and a pen, watching and waiting for the sunrise. Dex leaned against the wheel and smiled softly, sipping more coffee. It was a big thermos. Maybe he didn’t mind so much if they stayed out here until he finished it.

The sun finally broke over the horizon. He watched as early morning light softly gilded Nursey’s rapt face. Nursey turned to him with a grin.

Dex smiled back and shook his head at himself. Only for this boy would he ever get up this early. Somehow, it seemed worth it.


	4. Shop Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tiny ficlet based on a classic rock playlist @storiesfromtheden found [[8tracks](http://8tracks.com/bookingham/stompbox) | [tracklist](http://dukeofbookingham.tumblr.com/post/150038721093/hey-duke-would-you-mind-make-a-playlist-of-must)].

Nursey realized he recognized the music leaking from Dex’s headphones and looked up. Sure enough, Dex was frowning very intensely at his math homework. Curious, Nursey stood up and leaned over the table to try to see the name of the playlist. 

Dex glanced up when Nursey’s shadow fall across his page and found him trying to look at Dex’s laptop upside down. “What the hell, Nursey?” he asked, removing an earbud.

Nursey dropped back in his seat. “Just trying to see what you were listening to.”

Dex’s eyes narrowed. 

Nursey raised his hands to protest his innocence. “Not chirping your taste, I swear! I just realized you always play this when your homework is particularly annoying, and I was trying to figure out why.”

Dex blinked. “Oh.” He looked at the playlist, which Nursey could now see was titled “Shop Music.” “I guess I do do that. I never noticed.”

“And? Is there something about classic rock that screams math to you, or what?”

Dex rolled his eyes, but started drumming his pencil between his fingers in a way Nursey had learned meant he was actually thinking, so he made himself shut up.

Dex, in turn, had learned that if he could actually answer one of Nursey’s annoying feelings-based questions with some sort of description, he’d stop talking about it and leave Dex alone, which was motivation enough to try. “It’s all music my uncle plays in the repair shop, yeah? So I guess I play it when I need to feel like I know what the hell I’m doing, because I can always figure stuff out when I’m working in the shop. Classic rock is…productive problem-solving music.”

It was Nursey’s turn to blink at Dex. “Huh. That was a better explanation than I expected from you.”

“Shut up,” Dex said, and shot a rubber band from his pencil case at him. Nursey batted it out of the air and grinned. Dex raised a superior brow at him as he added, “Besides, it’s good music. You play your cards right, I might sing ‘Heartbreaker’ for you some day.”

Nursey’s eyes widened, and Dex put his earbud back in, going back to his homework with his own small, satisfied grin.

Nursey wondered if he could rig Ransom’s playlist for the next kegster…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus scene:
> 
> "Why don't you ever ask me what any of my music means to me?" Nursey asked.
> 
> "Because you've already told me. And all the rest of the team. At length. I've learned more about the history of East Coast hip hop and Afrofuturism in the past year than in the previous 18 years of my life combined," Dex said, continuing to tighten some random thing under the hood of his truck.
> 
> "Oh," Nursey said. "Cool." He was actually pretty pleased with that response.


	5. Come Lie in My Leaf Pile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some autumnal fluff.

Dex had just finished raking all the leaves on the Haus’s front lawn into a big pile when Nursey appeared from nowhere and threw himself down into the middle of it. Dex rolled his eyes and Nursey grinned up at him, completely unrepentant.

“What is it with you and leaves, man?”

Nursey shrugged, leaves crinkling under him. “It’s the perfect way to enjoy fall. You should try it.”

“No, thank you,” Dex said drily. “You know leaf piles are likely to be hiding snakes, right? Or be all wet in the middle? Full of bugs?”

“Dude, you just finished raking these, and it hasn’t rained all week.”

Dex shook his head. Nursey used the moment of inattention to surge up and grab Dex’s wrist, pulling him down into the leaf pile next to him in a tangle of arms and legs.

“Augh!” Dex shifted around until he could punch Nursey in the shoulder. “You dick!”

Nursey batted his eyelashes innocently. (As if.) “Well, now that you’re down here, guess you’ll just have to enjoy this fall day with me. No choice.”

“You are the worst.”

“And yet you like me anyway.”

“I mean, I guess,” Dex grumbled. And then he laced their fingers together and let his head rest against Nursey’s shoulder as they stared up through the partially bare branches of big tree in front of the Haus, watching clouds scud across the clear blue autumnal sky.

Maybe he could see the appeal of leaf piles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot resist adding a link to [this art](http://showsonface.tumblr.com/post/148275050752/anonymous-requested-nursey-and-dex-laying-in-a) by showsonface.


End file.
